“Those of us who could fly” might not have been the best way to put it. Specifically, Daniel, Amy, and I followed Izzy (carrying Paladin) in. We’d be joined by a couple more from Haley’s group.

Everyone else gathered outside under Tara’s leadership.

As great as Camille’s control over gravity was, she didn’t have infinite power in the tank which meant that all of the fungus creatures that hadn’t been destroyed by the equivalent of a hundred foot fall would be attacking soon.

They’d be joined by the thousands of controlled citizens behind us. That’s why we’d left the majority of the group. Tara would be able to figure out how best to organize that fight.

Izzy, Alex, and I landed first, waiting for the others because even if every second counted, we needed the flexibility.

Daniel and Amy landed behind us with Haley and Cassie landing behind them.

Izzy and I went first, stepping into the opening—a hole in the gray flesh of the wall. It didn’t feel right to step inside. The floor sank under my boots as it might if I’d stepped inside a creature’s mouth.

I’d read a story once where guests in a future hotel made of bioengineered matter kept on disappearing. Why? Because the rooms turned out to be the creature’s stomach.

I’d forgotten whether that was an intentional design element or not, but I had little doubt it would be intentional if that turned out to be true here.

The interesting question was whose design? A random design from the combination whatever alien and human elements it encountered since being released by Hunter? Maybe it was some element of Hunter’s personality given free rein? We didn’t have necessary information.

It was best to keep my mind on what I was doing.

Definitely, Daniel thought at me from behind.

That’s when I realized that I wasn’t in a hallway. The “hallway” we’d been in was the gap between two of the mounds. As we stepped forward, the walls had changed from grey flesh to something else. The one to my right reminded me of the birthing chambers I’d seen outside—clear skin with liquid and shapes inside.

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These shapes weren’t humanoid. They had the whorls of brains, but were the shape brains might be if they grew in zero gravity and without a body. Though connected by curving, folded grey matter, sometimes it clustered, sometimes it spread apart, still connected by veins of pumping blood.

On my left, the mound also appeared to be birthing chambers, but this one didn’t contain brains. It was all bodies—humanoid bodies. On my first look, I thought they were actually humans who’d been captured and were being modified into something else, but a closer look showed that they weren’t finished.

Where I could see inside, they were solid all the way through, but if some hadn’t been still growing arms and legs, I’d never have known it. They looked perfectly human other than that.

If we didn’t shut this down, they’d blend into any city in the world.

It wasn’t the only mound like that, but I didn’t have time to inspect every single one. They were all around the outside of the room and by the time we’d passed three more, we’d reached the middle.

I don’t know what I’d expected to see there. A throne room, maybe? A giant brain or maybe a mushroom? Mario? A Smurf?

What we found was a pool.

Lit by multi-colored dots on the fleshy ceiling above us, mounds bordered the space, some of them growing people, others brains, and others seemingly only walls.

Daniel spoke over the comm, “We’re in the middle of a single mind.”

“That’s good, right?” Alex looked around the room. “Can I just touch the floor or do I have to make for the pool and touch the liquid? There’s no way it’s really water.”

“I think we need more information before we move,” I said, taking a quick look around the room and not seeing anything move that wasn’t us.

Mentally I asked Daniel, Is there any chance that this means that we’re past its mental defenses?

I’m trying to figure that out. Daniel closed his eyes.

Not hearing the exchange, Alex spoke over me, “You always think we need more information, but it doesn’t just appear. Sometimes you have to push some buttons to get it.”

He pushed his way past Izzy and walked toward the pool.

Izzy stepped forward, keeping up with him, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. There’s something happening in the pool.”

Without stopping, Alex asked, “What?”

Izzy stared in the direction of the pool, “I don’t know. It’s small.”

The liquid bubbled and a child walked out of it, pulling himself over the pool’s grey wall.

Wearing a blue and white striped shirt, and blue pants, the blond haired boy could have passed for human anywhere.

“I’d like to talk,” it said with a touch of a lisp.

Alex glanced back at me, showing it was a good choice for the Fungus Collective. Most people hesitate when it comes to killing kids.